Managing the provisioning process for devices in machine-to-machine (M2M) platforms can be a complex problem. Generally, a client that includes a processor may include a unique hardware identifier (ID). The processor may provide the ID to a software application that may communicate over a network with a server. ID may be installed in the processor or another portion of the hardware in client during the manufacture of client.
Making use of the unique hardware identifier requires tracking identifier information and later associating the unique hardware identifier of the client with a customer. This process can be cumbersome and may not be possible in situations where a software application developer does not have control of or access to the client when the device being designed or manufactured, or if the ID during device operation. An example of provisioning of wireless devices is described in U.S. Application Publication No. 2011/0004549 by Gray et al.
If the mapping is not maintained, client devices are effectively lost, and a server may not be able to properly provision the device in the M2M platform. Additionally, because the identifier is unique per device, a server either needs some scheme to obtain the identifier based on information from the device (e.g., a factory programmed Media Access Control (MAC) address), or the server must generate and install the identifier in real time such that the server can re-identify the device at a later time. These approaches can break down in situations where there is nothing in the device to generate a unique identifier from, or there is no access mechanism to program a unique value into the device.